Things You Take for Granted

The village's water truck is broken. So, while plenty of water theoretically exists, it can't get to our house. I suppose if I were really ambitious, I could haul water in a clean, just-for-this-purpose garbage can, but that would mean buying a new garbage can. So instead, I'll just conserve. I can always shower and do laundry at the school...

Look at the water coming out of your faucet? Where does it come from? I think so much more about where things come from and where things go now that I live up here. I know right where my garbage ends up. Today they burned at the dump, and it stanked up that side of town. I know where my water comes from, where it's purified, and where it drains out of the bottom of my house when I'm done. When we get meat locally, I generally know who killed it and sometimes get bits of ammunition as a reminder... All sorts of stuff that I didn't ever have to consider before. In some ways, we've gotten so disconnected from the day-to-day basics of living (food, water, shelter, etc) that we forget that we even need those things and that it could be a struggle to even survive.

Don't get me wrong, we're in no danger of starving to death up here. Were the planes to stop flying, people's lives around here would change, diet especially, but I think they'd be fine. One example: after 9-11-01 (from what I've heard; I wasn't here), even little bush planes couldn't fly, which seems a bit silly, but I guess a rule's a rule. No mail, groceries, no way out. What were the items to get bought out at the store? Not meat, frozen veggies, etc. It was all the stuff that people know they can't provide themselves... pop, candy, chips and the like. They were not worried about starving, adn that taken care of, they got what they knew could run out if they were forced had the planes been grounded for a long time.

Interesting.